Intellectual Property as Self-Ownership

Sor Juana's defense of her own intellectual work against institutional censorship exemplifies the principle that ideas produced by one's mind belong to the creator. In libertarian justice, intellectual property emerges not from state grant but from self-ownership: your thoughts are yours because your mind is yours. Sor Juana fought to publish, teach, and claim authorship despite pressures to renounce intellectual life. This concept reframes property rights beyond physical objects to include the fruits of mental labor. When institutions deny women, religious minorities, or dissenters the right to their own ideas, they violate fundamental freedom. Recognizing intellectual property protects the liberty to think, express, and benefit from one's own knowledge without coercive appropriation by church, state, or patriarchal structures.